1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the design and manufacture of electronic components, and more particularly to a schematic design tool capable of integrating design and procurement analysis at the design stage of a component.
2. Description of the Background Art
Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems are well known and widely used in the design of electronic circuits. Known systems allow the designer to enter objects into an electronic drawing file and to connect the objects in order to “draw” the circuit being designed.
While some CAD systems appear quite complex, and offer the designer a great variety of drawing tools, such programs are essentially only drawing engines. The objects in the drawing files are only arcs, circles, lines, etc. While the arcs, circles, and lines can be grouped to provide the appearance of an object (e.g., a transistor symbol, a device package, text labels, etc.), the object is still only a group of arcs, circles, lines, etc. The CAD program does not recognize the object as an entity having any real physical characteristics (e.g., device type, function, etc.).
FIG. 1 illustrates the conventional process of bringing an electronic component from conception to manufacturing. In an initial concept stage 102 the gross structure, purpose, function, etc. of the electronic component is conceived. Then, in a schematic design stage 104, the designer reduces the concept to a schematic drawing. As described above, the schematic drawing is simply a picture of a circuit, with symbols representing the various electronic devices (resistors, transistors, capacitors, etc.). Then, in a third step 106, the schematic drawing is sent to a printed circuit board (PCB) designer, where one or more PCBs are designed for the electronic component. PCB design stage 106 is very time consuming, requiring that the designer identify each device in the drawing, assemble the engineering data (device type, value, packaging, footprint, etc.) for each device, identify the interconnectivity of the devices in the drawing, and then layout the PCB. Next, in a fourth step 108, the PCB is fabricated.
In a fifth stage 110, a copy of the schematic drawing is also transferred to a Product Introduction Center (PIC), where the electronic devices necessary to build the electronic component are purchased. In order to reduce the time to market for the component, PCB design stage 106 and PIC buy stage 110 typically occur simultaneously. In some cases, it is necessary for the PIC to select and/or substitute for electronic devices in the design. The result is that the design being used by the PCB fab might vary slightly from the design being used by the PIC.
Next, in a sixth stage 112, a prototype is assembled, and the design undergoes DFx analysis (e.g., design for manufacturability, design for testability, design for fabrication, design for quality, design for reliability, etc.). If the results of the DFx analysis is unsatisfactory, then the component design is returned to the design stage 104 to remedy any perceived defects. Typically, a design will go through several iterations before being acceptable for high volume manufacturing.
Once the component design is found acceptable in the prototype and DFx stage 112, the design is forwarded to a high volume facility, where in a seventh stage 114 a supply chain for the component devices is set up, and additional DFx analysis is performed. Any necessary design revisions are made, and the revised design is forwarded to a high volume procurement stage 116, where the electronic devices required for manufacturing the designed component are acquired. Finally, in a ninth stage 118, the components are manufactured.
Note that there is feed back from the high volume procurement stage 116 and the manufacturing stage 118 to the supply chain setup stage 114, in order to fine-tune the supply chain. However, note that there is no feedback from any of stages 114, 116, or 118 to the schematic design stage 104. Therefore, any design errors corrected in stage 114, will recur if new revisions of the design flow from schematic design stage 104 through to manufacturing stage 118.
In summary, the multiple redesigns in the initial design stage, and repetition of design errors resulting from a lack of feedback from manufacturing to design, all contribute to an increased time to market and increased design cost. What is needed, therefore, is a system and method for designing an electronic component that reduces the number of redesigns necessitated by procurement processes. What is also needed is a system and method that reduces the number of times a design error is introduced into the design to manufacturing flow. What is also needed is a system and method that facilitates easy annotation of design changes.